For the first few years of our marriage, Mike and I didn't own a television. We had a rotary phone. No computer, no internet. People who discovered this would look at me incredulously, wondering if we were some new sect of stealth Amish, infiltrating the modern world.
Mike got me a tiny tv with a VCR player one year for Christmas. I could watch movies, and since it came with a rabbit ear antenna, I could get a couple of channels if Mike was outside the room. (he has a strange electrical force field...more on that later) One channel was consistently clear so we could see the news and watch the Simpsons and late night Dharma & Greg.
A few Christmases later, we got another tv, but this time it was bigger! With a DVD player! And still... rabbit ears. I firmly believe that there's really nothing worth watching on cable that is equal to the cost. I can check out DVD series like HBO's Rome or Discovery's Mythbusters for free from the library and they show programs on the internet now too - all commercial free.
So about one year from now, when the government kills the tv signal, I will throw my rabbit ears in the trash. No converter box for me. Congress has spoken, and I'll reply "No, thank you."
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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11 comments:
I shot my TV 10 years ago and have never looked back...
I make it a point to go see real performances or the cinema.
I see A LOT of movies since I usually don't get the chance after they've had their run...
meh. They find a way to screw up everything, before it's all over.
My kids and I lived quite well without any tv, even local channels, for about 4 years. Then I went on maternity leave and got basic cable...now I'm hooked on certain shows, but we can go a week without turning the tv on.
The Mrs. and I only watch TV in hotel rooms. I HAVE a set of rabbit ears, but I'll be damned if I ever hook them up. We're HUGE film buffs so we have a DVD player in the living room with a home theater setup, one in the bedroom, one in the kitchen (mostly for cooking shows, or to watch a movie when we're doing an elaborate dinner party) and I have a DVD player in my armory for watching movies (kinda...mostly watching my work, but the movie makes things more interesting) while handloading and cleaning.
If it wasn't for the fact that EVERYTHING expects you to have a touch-tone phone these days, I'd get a rotory, because I LOVE the ring of those brass bells.
I'd LOVE a touchtone that had a brass bell for a ringer....
There is nothing in TV programming we want. We buy or rent series that we like on DVD (The kitchen player very often is showing Alton Brown, or Rachel Ray) I get my news from Radio and internet. The idiot box just isn't welcome here, and our kids are going to have to go elsewhere to watch it.
Haven't watched TV since 2001. Still got one for movies though. I drag it out of the closet when needed and throw it back in when the movie is over. Still have a rotary phone, manual coffee grinder, rotary ice cream maker and do most of the yard work with a machete. Like to cook on top of the wood stove and catch fresh fish for dinner(I can get them out of the river and onto the wood stovein under 5 minutes).
Life is only as complicated as we make it.
-kaveman
"stealth Amish"--I love that! I've sometimes wondered if I could take up the clothes and the lifestyle sorta-kinda, but combined with a more easygoing and cosmopolitan Christianity. I'm not sure I could ever learn to speak German that badly though.
Aren't the HDTV signals going to be receivable by rabbit ears with a converter box? We have the worlds most basic cable (local broadcast plus TBS and the Weather Channel), and I still don't know if we'll need a box. I don't much care...I only watch it when Rusty has it on and the evol TV-demons reach out and snatch my soul.
We don't have rabbit ears, it's a regular broadcast antenna. Everybody else has Cable except us. Next year when they go HD we'll probably get a converter box - but not Cable, no way. We hardly ever rent DVDs and we don't go to movie theaters - movies are not an enjoyable or very interesting public experience anymore. I couldn't give a crap about Tinselgrad's output.
Enjoy the free over the air broadcasts while you can. They won't be there much longer. Not only will the analog signals cease in Feb of next year, your local TV station is in serious financial trouble. They will all be out of business in 10 years or less.
Do librarians get a first shot at all the new DVDs? I ask because I usually put in my request and give or take 6 months usually get them within a year. I'm paying for it already in taxes so why would I go pay blockbuster to see it....
Anyway, congress can try to mandate all they want for their greedy money grubbin' buddies, but they're not getting my with their programming...unless they come out with a new reality show consisting of cameras in every congressional office and elected rep's home carried live 24x7. For that I'd buy a tivo and a stand alone DVD recorder.
Hobbit - at our library, librarians have to get on the waiting list for movies, just like everyone else.
Actually, rabbit ears will work just fine - IF you have a TV with a digital rather than an analog receiver. (The converter box converts from digital to analog.) I have one of each. I'll probably replace my (nearly worthless) analog receiver TV with a digital receiver unit. But where I live we only get one broadcast channel anyway, so I have cable.
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